Yahoo! and Samsung Expand Availability of Yahoo! Connected TV to Millions of Consumers Across Europe

Yahoo! and Samsung are betting big that a more tightly-controllable apps experience is the way that consumers will want to enjoy connected TV as opposed to the full Web browsing experience advocated by Google and Sony.

Yahoo's position on its apps versus browers is summed up nicely in a Fast Company article.

Talking about the new moves, Yahoo's senior director of Connect TV Russ Schafer didn't mince words when he confirmed Yahoo's position in the market: "We don't think people want the whole Web browser experience crammed in a TV."

Like the Bud Light commercials state: "Here we go."

Yahoo! Connected TV available on Vestel TVs

The Yahoo! Connected TV solution will be integrated with Vestel televisions in 2011. Vestel is the largest supplier to TV sets in Europe with an estimated 16% share of the LCD TV market and a 25% share of the digital set-top box market. It will ship Yahoo! Connected TV to consumers in over 40 countries from the first quarter of next year.

Google TV

The New York Times is reporting that Google, Intel, and Sony are at work together on a Web television for both set-top boxes and connected TVs. Whether it's true or not, the three companies would appear to be good partners:

• Google has an interest in extending its search and advertising placement expertise to the TV screen, as evidenced by its tests with DISH Network;
• Intel faces challenges in convincing consumer electronics companies to use their Atom processors instead of existing suppliers; and
• Sony is trying to revive its brand.

What is very interesting about Google's play here is what impact this might bring to television and online video advertising. To date, we haven't seen much success with online video advertising, and the model for consumer electronics companies in delivering Web-connected products is to work with content agregators (Netflix, Amazon, CinemaNow) and get a small share of the revenue generated from transactional-based VoD orders. So far, the advertising slice of the pie has been so small that it really isn't even a discussion point for revenue sharing. With Google involved, I wonder if they're going to sweeten the pot for CE manufacturers to entice them to leave Yahoo!, DivX, Rovi, IBM, or any of the other Web-on-TV solutions providers.

The European market for connected TVs is heating up

France’s Orange is in talks with TV manufacturers Samsung, LG and Panasonic to integrate its services with TVs connected to the internet, according to a report in French financial daily Les Echos.

The number of actors attempting to bring the connected TV vision to reality in Europe is quite diverse. I am organizing my analysis of the market by the following categories:

• Operators acting independently (Orange);
• Operators acting within the framework of the Open IPTV Forum;
• Content owners and CE manufacturers (HbbTV);
• Technology vendors (IBM WebSphere Portal, Yahoo! Connected TV, etc.); and
• Connected TV companies acting independently to sign deals with individual content owners/providers.